AL East Notes: Gardner, Orioles, Red Sox, Moore

In his latest Yankees Inbox column, MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch tackles a number of topics, perhaps most notably the possibility of a Brett Gardner trade this winter. Hoch notes that a deal is at least possible, as it might be one of the only ways in which the Yankees can creatively gain some flexibility this winter. With Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran locked into the other two outfield spots and Alex Rodriguez blocking Beltran from DH at-bats, there’s little room to make changes on the roster. While Hoch says that “initial indications” are that it won’t be a big-spending winter for the Yankees, moving Gardner could give the team both roster and financial flexibility. Within his column, Hoch also touches on the 2016 plans for Greg Bird and notes that the Yankees aren’t simply going to hand the second base job to Rob Refsnyder in 2016 as they feel he’s still developing from a defensive standpoint.

More from the AL East…

Orioles fans will want to check out this column from MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko, as he covers a number of players on the fringes of Baltimore’s 40-man roster and their future with the organization, including Dylan Bundy, Steve Johnson, Nolan Reimold, Steve Clevenger and Jimmy Paredes. Bundy will compete for a spot in the 2016 bullpen, but he’ll be out of options, complicating his future. Johnson drew interest from the Phillies and Mariners last year before re-signing a minor league deal with Baltimore. He could draw trade interest this offseason, Kubatko notes. The Orioles are expected to keep Reimold this offseason, and Clevenger’s defensive improvements have satisfied O’s decision-makers, though he could still be marketed in trades this offseason. Kubatko notes that the O’s had the chance to deal Clevenger at the July trade deadline — he lists the Mariners as an interested party — but hung onto him. Paredes’s future is less certain after a dismal second half, Kubatko writes (in much further detail than I’ve covered here).

One rival executive tells Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald that he expects Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski to “blow up the farm system” (as Mastrodonato terms it) and make trades to acquire the front-line pitching Boston desperately needs. “Dave is going to make some moves. He’ll be busy,” the exec told Mastrodonato. Dombrowski said he’s already begun receiving phone calls from other general managers to begin expressing interest in working out deals, Mastrodonato adds.

In a second article, Mastrodonato talks toRoyals GM Dayton Moore about the interview he had to become the Red Sox general manager one year prior to taking his current post with Kansas City. Moore, who previously oversaw the Braves’ scouting and player development operations, said he actually didn’t have interest in becoming a GM but took the interview after his own boss with the Braves, then-GM John Schuerholz, told him to go through the process. “You’ll learn a ton,” Schuerholz told Moore. Moore was staying at the same hotel as Sox president Larry Lucchino and chairman Tom Werner at the time, so he went through the interview process and found it enjoyable. “That was the first time I started thinking about wanting to become a GM.”

Comments

Phillips is making too much money and is locked in until after the 2017 season which is exactly what the Yankees are trying to avoid. They have too many aging players with big money, long term contracts.

If they trade Gardner for Phillips, the money in 2016 and 2017 is basically a wash, and they’d end up saving money in the following years. It really seems to make sense, as far as trades go, especially considering Phillips was good enough this past season to suggest that he would be a significant upgrade for NYY in 2016.

Owens, Swihart, Guerra, Kopech, Johnson. Could actually be someone like Benintendi too, although I wouldn’t prefer it. I imagine everyone in the minors but Moncada and Espinoza would probably be on the table.

I hope we keep Devers,Moncada, and Benintendi but I could see Owens, Guerra, Johnson, Kopech being moved. Not elite prospects but all pretty good. I could see us trading maybe one of the Devers, Moncada,Benintendi, Espinoza but not more then that.

How can DD really blow up the farm? The only trade that the team needs to make that would require giving up significant prospects is for a frontline starter. With one of the MLB’s top farm systems, even a trade giving up 3 or 4 prospects wouldn’t really classify as “blowing up the farm”.

That wouldn’t make much sense at all given that they already have a surplus of major league starters for a rotation. Buchholz, E-Rod, Miley, Porcello, Kelly, Owens, Johnson already makes 7 starters. Assuming that Buch, E-Rod, Porcello, and one of Miley/Kelly/Owens claims the 5th spot, that leaves one spot for the “ace”. Which is why DD doesn’t have a lot of room for huge trades… the ace is the only big spot the roster needs. The offense is virtually locked into place (with the exception of the bench), and the bullpen is rarely if ever fixed through a blockbuster trade.

Why not trade A-Rod for Prado. That way A-Rod gets to be closer to his retirement home and Prado can platoon anywhere. A-Rod is blocking the DH from Teixeira, Beltran and McCann. At least Teixeira’s contract is up soon so then Bird can slide in. McCann can be the DH and let Murphy or Sanchez catch more. Or Beltran can DH because he simply cannot field anymore; has anyone seen Beltran run out there? Plus we can just pay off a chunk of A-Rod’s contracts just like what everyone else has done for the Yankees (Wells/Soriano).

“Blowing up the farm” is just a hyperbole to grab attention. The Redsox already have a solid foundation for next years team, they are just missing that true ace and an upgraded bullpen.

With nearly 30mil aav to spend, the likley scenario would be to sign a free agent ace (Greinke, Price, Cueto, Zimmermann) and trade for a couple good relievers. Obviously, DD could shock the baseball world and trade for a Sonny Gray or Carlos Carrasco, but even so, with such a loaded farm system, and young talent from the major league roster, he wouldnt be blowing up anything. Would a trade hurt? Of course, but he wouldnt be blowing anything up. IE if he trades Swihart, Owens, and Margot for an ace, the farm system would still be top 10, arguably top 5 and their would still be a very nice core of young players on the team (Betts, Bogaerts, Rodriguez, insert young ace here, JBJ, ect)

I don’t know why Oakland would trade Sonny Gray. He’s very young and still hasn’t reached arbitration yet. Whatever they get in return may or may not have anywhere close to the upside that Gray offers.

Oakland is a team that makes runs based on a window of opportunity. Right now, Oakland does not have the necessary pieces in place to make a run in the next 2-3 years. Gray is valuable., but how valuable is he to a team that won’t be ready to compete for at least 2 years and most likley will not be able to sign him long term.
Being a Yankee fan, this part is scary for me – how valuable would be be to the Red Sox? He’s an ace, young, and team controllable – that gives them room to sign a top tier SP. The sox have a glutton of prospects to work a deal. I’d be willing to give E-rod, Owens, Vasquez, and (yes “and”) another younger position prospect.- yes I know it seems like a lot. That trade will make them a force to deal with for the next few years. (Not to mention the draft has a bunch of high upside and high floor pitchers coming out this year – funkhouser from lville comes to mind – and the sox should have a nice draft position.).
Oakland gets a couple 23 year olds with potential to build a future rotation, a catcher for the young staff to grow with, the ability to lighten vogt’s catching load, a position player lottery ticket.

I never believe any team is “2 to 3” years away. Wasn’t that what people were saying about the Mets and Cubs last March? Oakland certainly has some good players, and the AL West has sent everyone to the playoffs in the last 2 years except the Mariners. I think they can build quickly despite the Donaldson trade, and I really doubt they duplicate that mistake again and unload Gray this off-season.

Margot, Marrero, Miley for Tyson Ross. Sign Darren O’Day and a lefty specialist. Trade for Jonathan Papelbon. Can we be smart for once and stay away from big FA? They really worked out well with Crawford, Hanley, Pablo. Especially Cueto, who strikes me as another FA bust waiting to happen (unfortunately he is interested in Boston, which worries me).

And why not? He’s one of the best closers in baseball with a low trade value. He has thrived in Boston in the past, a place where some pitchers can’t handle and he has a relationship with John Farrell. As far as I know, he’s never been a clubhouse issue in Boston, and from what I can tell, all of his past clubhouse issues have stemmed from not winning. Jonathan Papelbon is a player who loves to win and hates to lose to an extreme– kind of sounds like Boston fans to me. He fits the culture and he’s done it before. And oh yeah, he’s damn good.

He put his hands around another player’s throat. let someone else deal with that. Unless you want him to try and strangle Bogaerts or Betts the next time the Red Sox have a losing season. There are plenty of good relievers out there that don’t have his mental issues. Go get one of them.

Incidents such as what we saw between Papelbon and Harper don’t just generate from nothing. I’m sure there was a lot of context we won’t know until someone on that team writes a book and reveals some of it (even then, we’ll only know it from one perspective).

Regarding Papelbon himself, much of what I’ve read about him comes across as hyperbolic, to say the least. The guy has a big personality, and big personalities will often clash with other players, coaches, and fans if you try to stifle them rather than embrace them. I have a feeling that the last two teams that had Papelbon wanted the performance without the personality, and that just won’t work.

Get that guy on a team where they embrace the varying personalities of players and you’ll see Papelbon be an enormously valuable part of the clubhouse.

His personality is bigger that the team. Grabbing his crotch at the fans in Philly, swearing at a reporter, putting his hands on Harper’s throat, demanding a trade, calling out his teammates and managers, watching porn in the clubhouse, and saying the Phillies didn’t want to win, aren’t just products of a strong personality. There isn’t a single team in all of baseball where that stuff would fly and rightfully so. Once your personality becomes an issue in the clubhouse, you’re no longer a colorful character. You’re a problem child.

My follow-up question would be: what is the culture like in a club that continually allows that kind of behavior?

How does Papelbon routinely get away with this? Is it that no one has the guts to tell him to knock it off or pack his bags? Is it that they don’t see it as much of an issue?

Clubhouse cancers are only that if you allow them to be. If no one steps in and tells Papelbon to quit doing what he’s doing, they are enabling the behavior. I’d have to imagine there are certain clubs and certain managers who could reign in Papelbon and allow him to be a big personality, without all the shenanigans.

The Red Sox are not the team that is going to risk again on a clubehouse cancer like Papelbon. Who cares what the context was? He grabbed Harper, who is still a kid to me by the throat for not running out a ball, which he did run out. Harper has been on the Nats for years. It was not Papalbons place. He is a loose cannon with anger issues.

Not so high on Ross, or any pitcher who calls Petco home. But if there was any pitcher in SD to acquire, it certainly would be Ross.

Cleveland has reportedly shopped Carrasco and Salazar, and both are solid targets. Tampa figures to have what, seven or eight pitchers (Smyly, Cobb, Archer, Ramirez, Moore, Odirizzi, Karns and Snell), vying for 5 rotation spots and would probably love to weaken Boston’s future with a key prospect or two. Odirizzi or Smyly both certainly have TOR potential, and Dombrowski drafted Smyly already.

Of all the Sox top tier prospects, I could see Dombrowski packaging Devers, Margot and Owens for a TOR starter somewhere. And I am not so sure how safe Swihart’s tenure in Boston is, especially if Vazquez can throw again this winter. I will assume he holds on to Moncada and Espinoza, but I won’t assume he isn’t willing to substitute Beintendo for Margot…

I have the idea of signing an “ace” type pitcher for 7 or 8 years and watching him drag the team down at the end of that deal. I plan on being a fan of the Sox then as well.

But I like the idea of going heavy for O’Day and Clippard and dealing some farm pieces for a TOR starter, Most prospects don’t pan out anyway, and a lot of the ones that do are a lot less than expected. Prospects are far from useless for the future of the team, but one of their uses is as currency, and Cherington’s biggest flaw was not using them that way.

TRADE HANLEY OR PABLO. free up some cash and let cecchini/rutledge/marrero play third. Give Shaw the starting job at first. Look for a bat off the bench, maybe Michael morse? incase shaw struggles,or to hit lefties, and a 5th outfielder. Red sox need a slugger off the bench, if trade pablo or hanley.
then sign Lackey, the red sox need and will benefit from lackey more than they would from say, cueto or price. They need a guy to start game 1 or 2 in the postseason, someone who has been there many times. A reunion for lackey and the sox is a possibility. Next, you can either still trade for that ace, and push lackey as your #2 and bucholz as your #3. however, I feel as though bucholz and lackey is good enough to get and be successful in the postseason. However, with so much money to spend, fix that bullpen. go big and sign O’Day and Bastardo. The red sox can certainly improve and build a postseason, similar to the cubs minus the power type roster. young, better bull pen than the cubs, speed, veterans who have been there, while not forfeiting top or many prospects, and doing it fairly cheap, or at least, not spending any more than 15M on a signee or acquired player of trade this winter… well thats my philosophy, and thats what i would do if i was DD.

I really don’t see Hanley or Sandoval going anywhere this winter, and I certainly don’t see the Sox handing 3B to a bunch of utility types. That type of situation was exactly why they signed Sandoval in the first place. Do we need another year of Holt/Snyder?

Cecchini looked bad last year. Marrero gets most of his value from his SS defense. Rutedlge is an afterthought. Lackey was traded because the Red Sox did not trust him. I doubt the Sox would want him or would spend the money it would take to get him. He is 36 but t will get a nice deal.